The recent decision of the health ministry not to hold any admission tests for MBBS and BDS courses in medical and dental colleges, both private and public, has sparked widespread protests by the admission seekers across the country. While the authorities have dismissed these protests as manipulations of the coaching centres and argue that the new enrolment process will be fairer as it will allow the top graders to qualify without any hassle for the medical professions, the scrapping of this age-old practice is not without significant ramifications for the quality of the intake, and ultimately the future, of the already struggling health sector in Bangladesh.
What will happen if admission tests are in place for higher education in any discipline? Immediately after the final exam is over, the intending students embark on a rigorous course of study either in a traditional coaching centre or on their own. They have to read between the lines of their previously studied texts. In so doing, even the top graders learn new things, rectify many mistakenly understood points, discover something new, and thus develop their knowledge base and be more ready in terms of their aptitude for undergraduate study.
If we look at the history of higher education in Bangladesh, we will find that all universities initially admitted students on their previous academic results/marks. The idea of admission tests came into being only because there were far more candidates than the seats available. While admission tests are designed to select more qualified candidates, they can also be seen as a means to eliminate the unqualified ones as their previously earned grades can be highly deceptive. It is this established commonsense that forced even the National University to arrange country-wide admission tests for honours teaching colleges decades ago. Likewise, it has provided the basis for a similar practice in all public universities in the country. Even some reputed private universities have gone for this option. The recent decision, thus, is a journey backwards.
The new decision, surprising and unfortunate for those who have been preparing for the tests the whole year, takes for granted that the CGPA scored by students at the secondary and higher secondary levels truly reflects students' ability and aptitude for higher studies though everything points to the contrary.
Visit a book store in Nilkhet and you will be overwhelmed by the sheer number of SSC and HSC test preparation materials and some books called "suggestions" that form the basis of the students' preparation for the final exams. You will find excellent techniques for top scoring by studying limited materials and by memorising the prepared answers in all subjects. A student receiving a CGPA of 5 on the basis of these can never be automatically considered for admission, at least not in medical colleges.
In SSC and HSC exams, students do not answer the same questions in all boards. If we make a comparative study of the questions papers set by different boards in different years in any subject, we will find that some boards set easier tests than others and thus help inflate the grades of students under that particular board. Taking CGPA as the only indicator will do immense injustice to the students taking public exams under other boards that set comparatively difficult questions for students and thus deflate students' overall CGPA. Admission test is a chance to do justice to them.
SSC and HSC scores can be deceptive. So can the O Level and A Level scores. In order to avoid the deception, many countries have developed standardised tests to accurately measure the aptitude and readiness of the admission seekers for higher studies in all sorts of disciplines. That's why, students seeking quality higher education nowadays have to face tests like SAT, GRE, GMAT, IELTS or TOEFL. Furthermore, many of these tests are discipline specific, showing that mere grades obtained in pre-university education are not enough to consider a student eligible for further studies.
Admitting students through admission tests is sure to create a number of problems. There are about 8,000 seats in all medical colleges, public and private combined. But the number of top graders exceeded 60,000 this year. There are unsuccessful top graders from the previous year as well. Currently, there is even no published merit list or percentage of marks in students' transcripts, making a proper selection on merit a very difficult task.
Moreover, the argument that coaching centres are taking undue advantage of the admission tests seems to be completely unfounded. While it is true that coaching centres are making money, they are doing it by providing service through numerous meritorious students who can barely afford their academic expenses on their own. Would you ban TOEFL, GRE and SAT tests simply because there are many coaching centres on their preparation? If there is any corruption, as many people allege, the national admission body is to be blamed for that. Coaching centres have nothing to do with it.
Though the other public universities, including BUET, DU, RU and JU, could not even think about scrapping the admission tests, and have already started admission test procedures for this year, the Health Department has gone for a very rash decision that, once implemented, will pave the way for a new generation of untested students in medical colleges with potentially disastrous consequences upon the very crucial health sector.
Admissions tests are absolutely necessary for the above mentioned reasons. Should not we, the conscious section of society, come forward in this regard? Will the government understand what they are doing? Will the High Court effectively intervene to stop the suicidal decision?

The writer is a Senior Lecturer, Northern University Bangladesh.
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